Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-09-17

He Il Satisfied With the State Of the
Copper Harket and Hopeful Of
the Prospects for Silver.
The Addition to the Waterw0rks Sys'
tenn to Be Pushed to Compile.
tion by October LIST.

Mr.. w. A. Clark returned to Butte yes.
terday morning after two months, absence,
and was seen in the evening by q represen-
tative of The MINER at his Office where he
was busily immersed in a pile of papers.
After q cordial greeting, MI. Clark was
asked how he had enjoyed himself dur
ing his absence, 'Very much indeed. OF
course, there wal some very warm weather
East after ] left here, and coming from this
high altitude l felt it perhaps more than
those already there. But I made directly
for New London, Connecticut, where my
family has been living for some time, the
children attending school. and I can truly
say that we never suffered with heat there
there being q continualfresh breeze blowing
in from the sea. New London is a delight
full summer resort. quite on q par with
Newport. While l was there I saw upwards
of q hundred yachts in the harbor, among
them Jay Gould's Atalanta. and it was a
spieldid sight,"
f"Whiie in the East, Mr.. Clark, did you
size up the cope situation?"
Eyes; and the outlook, upon the whole,
ia very fair. The fire in the Calumet &
Hecla has checked production to q certain
extent and allowed the stock on hand to
reduce to a slight degree"
lis that ossible?"
Eyes; the extent of the fire has not bren
realized yet. They may be working a little
in some parts of the mine, it is SO extensive.
I understand they are shipping lime there
by the carload to mix with chemicals in
the mine and produce carbonic acid gas in
quantities sufficient to extinguish the fire
which. if I am not mistaken, extends down
to the 800 level"
"Win the resumption of work on the
Boston and Montana Copper Company's
mines affect the MARKET"
"Oh, they are doing nothing to speak OF
at present. There wal some apprehension
felt in London when the formation OF tine
company was first mentioned; but it will
be some time before they can affect the
market. The price OF copper has been very
steady of late and is likely to remain
so. You see, copper enters SO largely into
manufactures in the shape of brass that
the consumption is fully equal to the sup.
ply. Door fixings are largely made of brass
now, and copper roofing is becoming quite
common in the East, SO that if the supply
is not too great the price is likely to remain
at it's present fairly remunerative figure"
Is there likely to be any a~melioration
in the silver situation?"
None at present I am afraid. New York
cap't make & market for silver. 1t is, and
always must be, governed by London,
which is ruled by the India demand. That
really governs the situation. 1t is the
amount of silver that India and the East
can consume hat regulates the price Of
silver. There has been a small rise, re-
GENTLY. sold some myself a few weeks
ago at 50, I think. but that vas a tempo.
rary rise. It has fluctuated all along
within the last few months at about 90,
and l see no prospect OF any appreciation
in the price at present, as there is no de-
mand for it,"
DO you think the railroad could make a
reduction in it's freight rate on salt that
would enable the silver-mill men and
miners to continue it's production at a
proit?"
Undoubtedly it could. It could reduce
the price of salt to So a ton if it wanted
to. But q reduction of even IS a ton
would make an enormous aggregate to the
camp and a very respectable return to the
stockholders in any mine. How much salt
is consumed by the mills here7'
"About 1,4OO tons a month";"
Every well. There's $1,000 a month if
the freight were reduc, d IS a ton-$S4, 900
" yea" AAV 0u1Ouk OuO I'LL WOulu
make a very respectable dividend"
The advent of the Montana Central
al have no effect as a. factor in the reduc-
ton of the salt tariff"
mo, they would have to bring it from
Michigan, and could not afford to lay it
down any lower han is now being paid,
owing to the long haul, while the Union
Pacific could afford to reduce the price to
81 or So, if necessary, to break their COM
petition. But it is not what we can or
cannot get it elsewhere for that must gov
ern the silver people here in regarding the
question. It is the principle of the thing
to oppose being swindled any longer so
outrageOusly by the Union Pacific by an
unnecessarily high price for salt"
The road only charges freight now-$12
a ton: They let you buy the salt where
you choose"
"1es;that is the arrangement made after
l went away. And, mind you, we don't
have to pay So a ton for salt, either.
can get it az low as 81 or ST. n ton.
Before I left here I Wis offered all the salt
needed, in thousand-ton lots, at $1.76."
The Board of Trade meets on Thursday
night. Will any action on the subject be
taken then?"
Undoubtedly the subject will be dis
cussed there, but I am in favor OF taking
no decided action on the subject at present
until we learn what the Union Pacific man
agement will do. They must do something
soon. The announcement by the
Alice Company that they will shut
down as soon as their present stock of
salt is exhausted. o. by October first at |
tnrthest, will not be ignored. The freight
traffic agents o in session at Salt
Lake are undoubtedly there for the pur-
pose of getting data on the subject-not, as
you enormously had it this morning, of
making a lower tariff. They couldn't do
SO. But they can gather statistics to fur
nish Mr.. Adams and Mr.. Potter, and these
alton and. l trust, come to a reasonable
view Of the matter"
III no such result is reached, will the
other silver mills shut down-th Moulton,
example?"
II don't know. I'm not prepared to say
anything about hat at present. But I
give the matter my earnest attention,
if. see no other way to bring the
about, I shall shut down with
out making any bulldoze about it,"
"IDthe silver mills close down, what ef-
will it have on the CAMP"
Most disastrous. for the reason that the
majority OF miners working here arc in sill.
yer mines. 1t is not merely the large insti.
tutions like the Alice, but the hundreds of
workings-prospects worked by two
'r three men-that would stop, as they
could find no market for their ore. I am
lot in favor of bulldozing the Union Pacific
Dad, but sizing up the situation and act.
ng deliberately when the time comes" /
Would there b. any possibility of bull.
lozing the Union Pacific with the present
position OF the Montana Union?"
I'm what way?"
"Well, it was suggested that the lease of
be Montana Union would be broken by
he Union Pacific if there were any united
!etion to send all Butte freight over the
Northern Pacific and proh'bltory tariff laid
n to Garrison" |.
I doubt it the lease is in position to be
'roken by the Union Pacific at will, but if .
be link to Bozeman were completed then ,
~ would be independent of the Montana ,
'nion and need not be apprehensive of it's !
xlstence or non-existence. ,
Now that you have arrived, I SUPPOSE Z
he Silver Bow Water Company will pro-
BED with the erection of the Knowles !
unp?" 4
Eyes. There is a question whether it e
ill not be better to erect it on this side of I
hs creek, as the pipes which are laid under :
Re creek bed being liable t. burst in cold q
Gather, there will be less strain ON them If q
hey are used to draw watar 1